The fourth season of the HBO/MAX original anthology series, True Detective is a mixed bag, but still the best season of the show since the acclaimed first season. The original first series is widely considered to be one of the best television mystery dramas ever and has even been described as being perfect. I have to admit that the first season was for me anyway, perfect. It just hit all the right points like a kind of alchemy that sadly for the seasons that have followed have not equalled and I have come to believe that perhaps one should not compare it to anything else to it since each season is it’s own crime mystery drama with little to no links to the first series. This now addressed on it’s own, True Detective: Night Country is the best season to broadcast and stream since the original to the point that the subtle attempts to link it to the first one actually brings True Detective: Night Country down, when it could have stood better if it were simply it’s own thing. Taking over for Nic Pizzolatto is Writer and Showrunner and Director Issa Lopez and considering the amount of work, responsibility and location shooting in Iceland, I think she did a good job though there are a few elements that don’t work at all and unfortunately due to the spoiler factor there is one I cannot address here at all. Aside from one poor attempt to link the fourth and first seasons that for those unfamiliar with the cultural significance resulted in unintentional laughter, the problem I can address is the fact since it tries to link itself to the first season while being a largely unrelated story is that the series fails to balance the allusions to possible supernatural elements in such a way that can also be explained away by rational explanations like the original show. The series really hooks the viewer into the mystery too and I really do think if it dropped the references, True Detective: Night Country would not draw as much comparison to the original and one could be a little more forgiving if it simply remained it’s own thing.
The other area I found questionable was the depiction of people with mental illness. Without giving away too much, the series irresponsibly equates psychological and emotional problems to inevitable suicide, which is terrible for anyone who is afflicted or has a friend or family member that is living with mental illness because it presents stereotype that for decades, people, who do live with this problem, have long struggled to not be stigmatized by it.
All of the episodes are presented their 1080p full HD aspect ratio of the original television exhibition with a clear, but somewhat underwhelming English DTS-HD MA Soundtrack. I think they should have gone with Dolby True HD. English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired are included along with Subtitles in German, Netherlands, Ceske, Dansk, Suomi, and Norwegian among others that are encoded onto both Blu-ray Discs as options. All of the extra value features can be found on the MAX streaming platform and in fact there are a couple I think that did not make the transition, should have been included such as the podcast because it gives great insight into the culture of the indigenous people of Alaska along with great conversations with the on screen and behind the scenes talent associated with the series.
What you get are short featurettes like Meet The Detectives (2:56) with Jodi Foster and Kali Reis. A short EPK style interview with Showrunner, Writer and Director Issa Lopez (2:59), the two leads discussing their interpretations of inkblots (3:13), the indigenous themes explored (4:43), the setting (2:17) and and the six episode recaps that run between 45 seconds and 59 seconds respectively. The interactive menu is a standard still picture design. True Detective: Night Country is available now on Blu-ray Disc and DVD, but sold separately courtesy of Warner Brothers Discovery Home Entertainment.
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